With the number of online music streaming services floating around, there's seemingly an option out there for any type of music listener. Inevitably some of these services will be similar. Pandora provides Internet radio stations that mold to your tastes. Spotify provides an online library that lets you play what you want on demand.

Rdio lets you listen to radio stations that adapt to your taste. Sound familiar? Pandora apparently thinks so, because the company is now buying Rdio.

But this isn't just a matter of Pandora shopping around for music providers to consume. Rdio is filing for bankruptcy and shutting down its service. Pandora is paying $75 million to snatch up the company's assets.

Press Release

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 16, 2015-- Pandora (NYSE: P), the world’s most powerful music discovery platform, today announced an agreement to acquire several key assets from Rdio, a pioneer in streaming music technology. This will accelerate the company’s plan to offer fans greater control over the music they love, strengthening Pandora’s position as the definitive source of music.

“Whether streaming through radio, on-demand or in-person at live events, Pandora is building the definitive source for fans to discover and celebrate music,” said Brian McAndrews, chief executive officer at Pandora. “Wherever and however fans want to hear music, we intend to be their go-to destination.”

In addition to acquiring technology and intellectual property from Rdio, many members of Rdio’s team will be offered roles with Pandora, subject to close of the agreement. The company expects to offer an expanded Pandora listening experience by late 2016, pending its ability to obtain proper licenses.

More details about Pandora’s future vision will be shared during an investor call today at 1:30 p.m. PT. (Details below.)

The purchase price is $75 million in cash, subject to certain purchase price adjustments.

“We are defining the next chapter of Pandora’s growth story,” continued McAndrews. “Adding live music experiences through Ticketfly was a transformative step. Adding Rdio’s impressive technology and talented people will fast-track new dimensions and enhancements to our service. I couldn’t be more optimistic about Pandora’s future and the future of music.”

“The Rdio team built an acclaimed product and technology platform that has consistently led innovation in the young streaming industry. I'm pleased that many members of the Rdio team will continue to shape the future of streaming music, applying our tradition of great design and innovative engineering on an even larger stage with Pandora,” said Anthony Bay, chief executive officer of Rdio.

The transaction is contingent upon Rdio seeking protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California. Upon approval of the proposed transaction by the bankruptcy court, Rdio will be winding down the Rdio-branded service in all markets. Pandora is not acquiring the operating business of Rdio, and is acquiring the technology and talent to accelerate its own business strategy. The transaction is subject to the approval of the Bankruptcy Court, which will supervise an auction for the assets of Rdio, as well as other customary closing conditions.

Listen to Pandora’s investor call today at 1:30 p.m. PT. A live audio webcast of the event will be available on the Pandora Investor Relations website at http://investor.pandora.com. A live dial-in is available at (877) 355-0067, or (443) 853-1239 internationally, using passcode 80010898. A replay will be available at (855) 859-2056 or (404) 537-3406, using passcode 80010898, and available via webcast replay until November 30, 2015.

Comments

I don't know anything about Rdio but $75M is pretty cheap in this day and age of buyouts, that's a freakin steal!

Linus

Maybe that's why they pay only $75. ;)

Sir_Brizz

To be fair, the deal is contingent on bankruptcy filing which could allow Pandora to recover some of their costs. Still a little baffling... what does Pandora need from Rdio?

tim242

More music? Pandora has a tiny library of just a million songs.

folkrav

Well, I was looking to get away from Spotify, been trying out GPM for the last weeks and was going to try Rdio next. I guess that's a no-go!

AD1980

Why were you looking to get away from Spotify?

DoctorRabbitfoot

Also interested to hear your thoughts of Spotify vs GPM

Kevin R

I am testing GPM since I have a 3 month trial from my Chromecast Audio. So far I like the user interface and sorting features of Spotify. I find Spotify is easier to navigate and search. I will probably switch to GPM when they release their family plan so that I can use GPM and YouTube Red.

Yield Way

I pay for GPM but use Spotify Free. I like Youtube Red/Music but GPM apps are horrible, so keeping GPM/YTR and using Spotify Free.

AD1980

I have no thoughts! I'm considering giving a music sub as a Christmas gift and was curious what people thought of the two services.

lzdking

Lack of Chromecast support was the main reason why I switched from Spotify (although I think they have added official support now?).

Pandora seems the best, but that's like saying I prefer the bowl of mashed potatoes with the least amount of dogshit mixed in; all the "radio"-type services suck.

GPM is superior to any music-delivery paradigm ever invented.

AD1980

Considering buying a subscription for someone as a gift for Christmas... What makes GPM the best?

lzdking

They have tons of radio stations (for moods, events, activities, etc..) and user generated playlists.
You can make a radio station based off a certain song, album, or artist.
However, I think Pandora by far has the best algorithm to generate radio stations tuned to your tastes.

That being said, it's not enough for me. I no longer have a Pandora One subscription and I am almost exclusively use Google Play Music.

Sir_Brizz

Whenever I used Pandora, I always ended up getting filtered down to the same style of music no matter what I selected.

They let you upload 50,000 of your own MP3s to the cloud was the deal-maker for me. Plus I like their suggestions/playlists.

And now with YT Red included.

something_new

Moods and the high quality curated lists

tim242

Pandora has the smallest library of any service, at only a million songs. They also don't have an unlimited skip option, even on Pandora One.

thespacecowboyx

Unlimited skip counted them out for me a long time ago. However even with their 1m tracks, they still have decent quality. Lots of the stuff on Google Music is karaoke, kids songs from random albums. Not all popular or mainstream in any way.

I wonder if Slacker will go the same way. I got in on an *ahem* deal with them a few years back, I still have quite a way to go with that...

tim242

I use Slacker Plus, it's only $4 per month. No ads, unlimited skips, and they give you several on demand plays per month.

thespacecowboyx

Yeah me too. But my deal was free...its a good service, I just find myself naturally going to Google mainly because of my playlists.

Adam Jones

Google Play Music WOULD be, if they didn't force you to listen to their stupid 'radio' tracks after the song you select finishes. I mean add a fucking toggle to turn it off, it can't be that hard and it destroys my download limit.

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Rdio is the music app I use since I pay $5/ mo. with its student discount but it's app is plain awful. It always closes and freezes and its very buggy. I'll probably jump ship to Spotify because I think they have the same student discount deal.

Serotheo

Yep, same deal and pricing.

abqnm

Rdio has such a great selection of music compared to Pandora, so I'm sad to see it go. The app has been pretty good for me lately. I haven't had any issues with it stopping or closing in over 6 months. If Pandora picked up the license deals from Rdio, then I'd actually consider Pandora again. But otherwise I'm with you, when Rdio goes I'm probably going to just subscribe to Spotify.

Yeah Rdio had a great selection, that's another reason I've stuck with it. I tried GPM but it's selection was pretty bad compared to Rdio. I'm hoping Spotify is good too, I've heard good things.

abqnm

I use Spotify on my tablet because that allows choosing and playing any song for free, with some ads here and there. Anyone can use Spotify for free on mobile, but it only allows shuffle play, but as I pay for Rdio, I haven't really used it. So I'm not sure how good the radio curation is, but the selection is decidedly excellent. Once installed a while I encounter something that's not on there, but most everything seems to be. So if the radio curation and selection algorithms are good, then Spotify stands to be an excellent replacement.

I agree, the radio curation is what I'm largely interested in. I'll need to give it a test run before Rdio completely shuts down.

tim242

Spotify has the same price for students : )

TusharA

For me it's even worse.

Leaving aside the really good 'discovery' of Rdio, it only cost me INR 119 (US $1.8) per month. Spotify isn't available in India, and doesn't look like launching here anytime soon.

Jamie

Hopefully Pandora paying for Rdio's more International friendly Licencing availability as consumers from quite a few countries (http://www.rdio.com/availability/) going to have to change to another of Pandora's Rivals!

Pandora might now come outside the 50 states, Australia and New Zealand! - Perhaps Welcome South America and Europe!

Rodolfo de Angelis

Well I wonder why should anyone prefer a service like Pandora or Rdio: in the Playstore there is MixRadio, that is free and let you use the offline mode as well, and everything for free.

Rdio was the service I used before Spotify, before Play Music, they used to give out 90 day codes all the time. It'd be interesting to see if because Rdio is in a lot more countries would this mean Pandora will launch in them?

Luís Felipe

This is horrible! Rdio is available in several contries while pandora is only available in US...